The Indianapolis Colts got a much-needed victory on Sunday. Albeit against a struggling Tennessee Titans offense, it was the Colts defense that paved the way for the win. For the first time this season, Gus Bradley’s defense held a team to under 250 total yards. They also held Will Levis under 100 yards passing and kept their third down conversions to only 36%. The red zone defense was not good, as the Titans went two for two. However, when the team needed a play, when it mattered most, the defense stepped up to the challenge.
Leading up to this matchup, Gus Bradley was under fire as the Colts defensive coordinator. Through five weeks, his defense gave up 262 yard passing per game, 24.4 points per game, and allowed 46% success rate on third down. All of this production, or lack there of, ranked outside of the top 20 in the league. For the sake of the morale of the team and the sake of Bradley’s job, the Colts defense played its best game of the season and earned them a crucial division win.
The Good – Playing Lights Out In the Fourth Quarter
The Colts did not give up a point in the fourth quarter. Aside from the one 70-yard touchdown drive to start the second half, the Colts were lights out to end the game. In the fourth quarter alone, the Colts defense held the Titans to 39 total yards. The Titans had five possessions in the fourth quarter, and in those possessions, the sequence was punt, punt, interception, punt, and end of game.
The reason why this fourth quarter is so impressive by the Colts is because leading up to it, they had just given up a 70-yard touchdown drive on the previous possession that took up eight minutes. To make matters worse, the defense would give up a 23-yard touchdown run on a 3rd and 19 draw play. At this point, the Titans were up 17-10 and with the way the Colts defense had been fairing, one could sense that this touchdown drive by the Titans was the beginning of a route. However, Bradley and his defense didn’t flinch, and they played their very best when it mattered most.
The Bad – Containing the Run
The glaring issue for the Colts defense was their ability to stop the run. If it wasn’t for the efficiency in pass defense, the outcome might have been different. Coming into the game, the Colts gave up an average of 157 rush yards per game. On Sunday, that trend continued as they gave up 146 yards on the ground. Tony Pollard has 93 yards on the ground and averaged 5.5 yards per carry. Nonetheless, keeping the Titans one-dimensional proved to be huge, even though they had success in one area. The Titans inability to have success passing is what proved to be their demise.